lovely bones , twd

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chapter four
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𝒊𝒗 . 𝒈𝒐𝒏𝒆

"You should save the water to drink."

Rick sat against the tire of the pickup, elbows rested on his knees as he looked up towards the archer above him. Daryl held a dirty red cloth in his hand, a water bottle in his other. Prim's bow draped over his shoulder. He poured the water onto the rag before he held it out towards the man on the floor.

"Nah," he argued. "You can't see yourself," he started, head shifting to a nod towards the back seat of the truck. "He can." Daryl referred to the way Rick's skin had been visibly stained crimson with anything but his own blood. He looked like a wild animal that had just got done feasting, an image that Daryl wouldn't allow Carl to witness. Rick sighed in agreement, reaching up and grabbing the cloth from his friend. He began to wipe his reddened cheek as Daryl took a seat besides him with a groan.

Rick looked towards the man next to him, a soft gaze on his side profile. Then his eyes traveled towards the bed of the truck, his view short of what was inside.

"How they holding up?" He questioned.

Daryl bit down on his bottom lip, glancing towards the decapitated body that laid half way under the truck, deep in thought.

"They're holding," he answered. His words came out unconvinced because he didn't exactly know how the Bennett sisters stuck in the bed of the truck were holding up. They haven't moved since the incident a few hours prior. Teddy was still curled up in a ball, Prim's arms wrapped around her tiny frame as she laid in her lap. The blonde's breaths were short and quiet and Prim had to often lay her fingers against her pulse to make sure she was still there. Teddy wouldn't speak nor would she look up at her sister, and Prim's thoughts were too wild for her to sit there any longer without completely breaking down. But she wouldn't move, careful to give Teddy the space she needed to somewhat recover back to life after last night.

Guilt leaked through her veins as her fingers ran through Teddy's strands.

Daryl shook his head curtly — no. Rick frowned as his head dropped.

"She'll come around," he whispered in a rough mutter.

Daryl huffed with his shoulders before he decided to change up the subject to focus on what he knew Rick had been thinking since Joe's arrival, the question that stayed on the tip of his tongue but he had been too nervous to mutter, scared of the archer's reaction.

"I didn't know what they were," Daryl stated, reading his thoughts out loud.

Rick looked towards him but Daryl kept his stare on his boots.

"How'd you wind up with them?" He asked.

"I was with Beth," he started, memories of the last few days flashing through his vision. Some painful, some alright. "We got out together after the prison, and I was with her for a while." He voiced. "Found the two held top in some home." He explained, referring to the blue eyed sisters. "It got over run and the four of us. . . we got separated."

"Is she dead?" Rick asked after a moment, dreading the answer that was to come.

Daryl paused and looked towards his friend. "She's just gone," simple as that. Guilt struck his gut with those words, his brother Jude washing through his thoughts for a split second. "After that, that's when they found us. I mean, I knew they were bad. But they had a code. It was simple. Stupid, but it was something." He spoke. "It was enough to keep me in control, specially' with an extra mouth to feed." Teddy. With the separation at the funeral home, Daryl had to make the hard decision to go after Beth or after Prim. At first, he chose the first option, as he had Beth to protect, not just for her but for someone important to him. But the possibility of finding her became nearly impossible when Teddy could no longer run and he became too tired to drag her behind him after the car.